Breathing without air
by ronandhermy
Summary: A story of Breathless and the fighter sacrafic pair Ai and Midori. Just a few glimpes into their life before and after they met each other. AixMidori


**Breathing without air**

_We've found your fighter._

These were the words that kept repeating themselves in an endless loop as Midori sat waiting in an overly sterile room. He made a striking contrast against the white, windowless walls with his green hair and blue jacket, but he wasn't thinking of that. Nor was he thinking of the uncomfortable plastic stool that he had been forced to sit on for hours or the fact that he hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was well past lunch. All he was thinking of was how he was going to have his fighter, and he would never, ever be lonely again.

_You're to meet your sacrifice._

Ai hadn't known, fully, what exactly had made her different for the entirety of her life, all that she knew was that it isolated her. She had a loving family with a professor as a father, a homemaker for a mother and an old pet terrier who sat on the porch all day. It was nice but at times a girl needed to talk to someone other than her middle-aged parents and a decaying canine. Sometimes she just needed a friend.

Then _they_ had come and told her that she had a sacrifice. A person made just for her and her for him. It had been pure nirvana to realize that not only was her life not meaningless but that there was someone just for her. Half of her soul that would make her whole. Intense.

When he saw her enter the too sterile room the first thing he noticed were her eyes. Not her bright, short maroon hair or the fact that she seemed too fragile to possibly a fighter. No, the first thing he noticed were her eyes. Her golden eyes that looked so lonely yet there was something hidden there. An eternal hope buried just beneath the surface of the golden orbs. Then their eyes connected and he was Breathless.

Her breath was stolen away as her eyes locked with his. A brilliant feeling was slowly beginning to fill her with an unquenchable certainty. He got up and walked strait towards her, never once breaking their gaze. He grabbed her hands in his and said, winded, "Breathless, so intense it takes you breath away." And Ai was home.

She had been defeated.

Those words were hateful but they were true. Because of her weakness Midori had been hurt. _Her_ soul had been in pain. That's why she was at an old park, sitting on a non-descript bench, hidden by darkening shadows. She just needed to be alone for a little bit. To realize her mistakes, and maybe, just maybe banish the doubts about her belonging to Midori.

He was looking for her. He knew she needed to calm down and think after the battle with Soubi and Loveless, but when he wasn't near her he started to get paranoid. Without her he felt lost, incomplete and helpless. She had been gone for almost two hours and he felt like a rabid tiger locked in a cage. If he didn't find her, no he would find her. To not find her was unthinkable and if he didn't he would die.

Maybe she wasn't strong enough. She had wanted to make sure he had stayed safe, unharmed, and she had failed. Maybe she really wasn't supposed to be Midori's fighter, maybe she wasn't supposed to be Breathless. And maybe, perhaps, Midori didn't want _(want and need are one in the same)_ her. That last thought pushed Ai to tears, all alone, embraced only by her dark thoughts.

He had found her finally, sitting in a run down park. When he saw her he felt relief than anger. He was about to run up to her, shake her so hard her teeth rattled, and demand that she never leave him again. But as he neared her he stopped. Her maroon ears were pressed flat against her head and her eyes were filled with tears. Eyes that were usually burned with joy now were consumed with a suffocating pain. He approached her slowly so as to not startle her.

"Ai," he nearly whispered his voice full of concern. She looked up at him, tears continuing to fall as she remained silent. He reached out and wiped away a falling tear from her cheek, and with that the dam broke.

She threw herself into his arms and began a muffled apology. "I'm sorry. You should have someone stronger. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

He hushed her and held her long after the tears had stopped. When he spoke his voice was firm, and if anyone else was to have heard him they might have thought him harsh, "Never, ever say anything like that again. You are _my_ fighter and I won't give you up. You belong to me and I belong to you. That's the way it is. We are Breathless together but without you I am merely soulless.

Ai raised her head from his shoulder and looked him in the eye. This time, Midori was pleased to see them shining with the opposite of sadness.

"Come on, let's go home." Ai smiled and took the offered hand as he lead her down a well known path. To any passerby it might appear to be a boyfriend and girlfriend holding hands, not two soul mates making a silent promise. "But then again," thought Midori with a grin, "what do they know."

He hated Ritsu. He was cruel and _that thing_ hated Ai, his precious Ai. He would never have a new fighter, he'd rather die then be without her. He remembered the look of shock as he proclaimed that they would always be together. He had stood up for them, for her. Something that only fighters were supposed to do in a situation that called for loud bravery. It was the sacrifice's duty to display the quite courage that comes with experience in the face of pain. But this time, he was proud to say, he had defended her _(our, for we are one)_ honor.

When they were in their room she walked up to him and grabbed the hand that bore their name. She placed it above her heart and smiled.

"Midori, my heart is yours. I will do anything, anything at all, that you want. Just, don't leave me," Ai finished with a small smile and serious eyes.

He looked at her and gave a grin as he replied, "Of course I have your heart Ai. You're mine after all."

She smiled then, the first real smile since the defeat by Soubi. Her golden eyes seemed to shine like two new brass coins, laughing silently. Seeing her so happy drove him to utter bliss and without a guarded thought in his head, he pulled her close and kissed her.

And they were truly Breathless.


End file.
